This is why the baseball season is considered a marathon.

The season was on life support as May ended, but the Yanks have been galvanized in June as they swept the punchless Diamondbacks 7-1 on Thursday and increased their winning streak to nine.  Andy Pettitte pitched eight innings of masterful ball and it was the Matsui and A-Rod show on offense as the Yanks matched their high-water mark of two games over .500 on the year.

The Good:

Andy Pettitte.  Pettitte was in total command from the start.  It almost seemed as if Pettitte was toying with Arizona during his eight innings of work.  The D-Backs never mounted a serious threat and scored their only run on a ground out.  Pettitte earned his first win since May 23 against Boston and evened his record at 4-4.  The totals: 8 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 4 K.

Hideki Matsui.  Matsui continued his assault on National League pitching as he collected three more hits.  Matsui went 6 for 9 in the three-game set and entered today's game hitting .355 against the NL in his career.  Godzilla finished 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs and a run scored.  He also upped his average to an even .300 on the season.

Alex Rodriguez.  A-Rod had half the day off as he was inserted in the DH spot for the first time this year and didn't skip a beat.  Rodriguez went 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored, a walk and 2 runs batted in. 

The Bad:

Robinson Cano.  Cano entered the game hitting an appalling .171 in day games.  Well, his 0 for 4 on Thursday didn't do anything to help that average.  Cano struck out twice and left six runners on base.

The Ugly:

Is this June?  The game time temperature was 64 degrees, but it felt much cooler.  I wasn't at the game, but I did walk outside my joint to do some laundry and it felt more like April than June.  It's supposed to heat up again this weekend.

The Yankees will welcome in their cross-town rival Mets this weekend for a three-game set.  What a difference a month makes.  The Yanks limped into Shea in May and lost two of three to the Metropolitans.  Now, it's the Mets who are struggling as they've lost 5 in a row and 9 of their last 10.  The Rocket will make his second start for the Yanks and will go up against the theatrical Oliver Perez.

Should be fun.

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